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So I read Priory of the Orange Tree recently and thought it was loving phenomenal. I also realized that I've barely read any fantasy novels, apart from Terry Prachett and the one time I read the Hobbit. I'm looking for more sweeping epic fantasy written by women/lgbt folk, especially ones featuring women/lgbt characters. i know it's sci-fi but I've also read all of Becky Chambers' stuff as well, which I also love, and I think Record of a Spaceborn Few is my favorite of her Wayfarer's triology. Haven't read her new one yet, but I have a hold on it at the library. ...tbh I'm probably just going to read Priory again, I really loved it.
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Oct 9, 2019 08:07
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Thank you so much for all the recs, this should keep me busy for awhile. Really looking forward to some new stuff.
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Oct 10, 2019 01:53
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Ben Nevis posted:Just finished Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. It's a fantasy set in 1920s Mexico where a young woman working as a servant for her extended family stumbles across a deposed god of the underworld and must help him regain his throne. Story is decent, and decently paced, but the draw here may well be the Mayan mythology. It delves a lot into Xibalba, the Land of the Dead, as well as other demons, spirits, etc all while travelling across a Jazz Age Mexico from a tiny village to a resort in Tijuana. If you're one of those who enjoys fantasy that draws from other traditions, this might be a good one for you. I'm exactly in the middle of this right now, and I'm really enjoying it. The descriptions of 1920s Mexico AND Xibalba are fantastic and evocative in different ways. I absolutely love historical fiction, so historical fantasy fiction is A+++ for me, this book really nails it. I'm also actually liking the romance in it, it feels like it's building up really nicely and steadily instead of...just happening. I also read Diana Wynne Jones' Deep Secret last week, where the romance just...happened and it really soured me on a book I was otherwise having fun with.
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Nov 7, 2019 00:49
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If someone's never read Cherryh, where would a good place to start be?ShutteredIn posted:On the other hand I thought the ending of the Sparrow was so bad it made me angry I had wasted any time on the rest of it. I definitely didn't feel like it needed that sequel.
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Jan 25, 2022 07:12
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Murderbot is probably one of my favorite series right now, and I really really loved Silver in the Wood. It's a pretty quick read, lots of fun British mythology stuff. Plus, gay. The sequel, Drowned Country, came out semi-recently and is really enjoyable, too. I started Witchmark but couldn't get into it. I've read Polk's The Midnight Bargain and it didn't really click with me, either, but I couldn't say why. Not to put anyone off reading them, because I think they ARE well-written books and I know Polk has been recommended in the thread. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for them at the time.
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Feb 17, 2022 07:40
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I will second the Lady Astronaut books, I absolutely loved them. Really well-written and thoughtful.got some chores tonight posted:I finished A Master of Djinn. It was...ok. I like the basic concept: djinn + steampunk + Cairo, but the writing leaves a bit to be desired (the action scenes especially feel a bit weak) and the central "mystery" behind the detective story is a bit obvious. I enjoyed the short story but I don't really think the full novel really enhanced the experience. I really enjoyed A Master of Djinn but I also kind of feel the same way about it. It's the author's first full length novel (as far as I know?) so I can understand why it was a bit rough. Overall I had a lot of fun reading it. Definitely don't skip The Haunting of Tram Car 015 if you haven't read that yet, another short story in the same Cairo.
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Mar 15, 2022 07:52
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I actually just finished that! I really enjoyed pretty much everything that had to do with the natives and exploring their planets and culture. The human politics were extremely tedious but I think that was kind of the joke.
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Mar 16, 2022 18:46
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Tars Tarkas posted:I read some reviews complaining about the human politics but the draw is the alien stuff and even why it was recommended in this thread so I picked it up to go in my ever-growing to-read pile I think it's definitely worth a read, the politics stuff doesn't ruin it or anything. I was actually surprised to see the book was published in 1991, the politics parts feel very modern, not 30 years old. My only real complaint about the book would be I really just wanted to see more of the alien stuff. I could have read another few hundred pages of traveling around and meeting different people and etc.
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Mar 17, 2022 07:02
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BlankSystemDaemon posted:Are there any scifi books (or preferably series) that start out with hard science fiction and build on it with the people inventing things that build on hard science fiction principles but get more and more far-future with everything from FTL and/or wormholes? Marina J. Lostetter's Noumenon trilogy fits what you're looking for, I think. Starts with a generation ship setting out to investigate a star that might have an alien artifact attached to it and goes to some wild places. I also think Nancy Kress' Yesterday's Kin trilogy fits, too. I wasn't super into it by the end but I'm also very picky. Second question, I would say to check out Nnedi Okorafor's Binti series, just chock full of aliens and them interfering with Earth politics among other things. Sue Burke's Semiosis duology involves a small colony of humans settling a planet that contains highly-evolved intelligent plants and how they form a new society there. Also Chana Porter's The Seep, for a really interesting take on alien invasions.
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Apr 2, 2022 20:10
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BlankSystemDaemon posted:The serendipity of me reading a lot of lesfic romance lately and your username, makes me think I should take all these recommendations very seriously Of those ones, I would say only Yesterday's Kin and Semiosis feature a lot of actual fighting and war type stuff. Noumenon is very slice of life-y and also more...politics/society focused. Oh also if you haven't read Becky Chambers' other works, definitely pick them up. To Be Taught, If Fortunate is a really beautiful story. I don't think the main character in The Seep id's herself directly as a dyke but she definitely calls herself a diesel butch so there is that as well.  I'm always looking for lesbian sci fi/fantasy and I will definitely post about good stuff when I come across it.
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Apr 3, 2022 05:18
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I just remembered the sexual assault that happens in like, the first chapter of Semiosis. Fun! The first chapter is basically there to contrast with the society the colonists eventually end up making. I really enjoyed the series overall and I don't really see it talked about much so I am kind of trying to sell it pretty hard.
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Apr 3, 2022 06:36
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habeasdorkus posted:I really enjoyed the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb way back in the day. Really should have the first book of that series, though. Fitz goes through a lot. I think I might have preferred the Liveship Traders trilogy set in the same world more. CW for sexual assault in the latter trilogy, tho. I read a bunch of Farseer/Realm of the Elderlings last year and I just kept wanting Hobb to let Fitz rest already!! The man loving goes THROUGH it. I think The Fool is one of my favorite fantasy characters as well. If you're interested in picking up a big fantasy series it's definitely a good one to check out. I'm reading Mira Grant's Alien: Echo right now and my stupid rear end didn't realize it was part of the actual Alien franchise until the xenomorph showed up. Enjoying a YA horror with a lesbian protagonist though. I always think Mira Grant/Seanan McGuire writes like she's making a Netflix original series, which is both easy to read and slightly annoying. big dyke energy fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Apr 12, 2022 |
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Apr 12, 2022 18:41
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anilEhilated posted:Koli... develops, I guess? The first book of the trilogy is non-stop making GBS threads on him, he gets better as the story goes on. He's a dipshit pretty much the whole time but I never hated him outright I guess. I was way more interested in the other characters and really wanted to see stuff from their perspective instead.
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Jun 4, 2022 20:37
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StrixNebulosa posted:I'm screwing around online looking through book blogs and found this: Yes! It's extremely good and extremely weird. Tidbeck is really really good at crafting a world.
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Jun 10, 2022 05:43
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StrixNebulosa posted:Ann Aguirre comes to mind, though I haven't read any of hers yet. Actually here's a few more I haven't read yet (I prefer pnr to sci-fi romance): Jessie Mihalik, Linnea Sinclair, Rachel Caine, SL Viehl, Sara Creasy. Ann Aquirre is okay, the best parts of her books are definitely the weird alien sex. The rest of the books are generally like, CW-level action and plot. I think if you're in it for the alien sex it's worth a read. Painfully hetero but what can you do? Gail Carriger's 5th Gender is good as well, but I would have liked more build up to the romance. Again I think Carriger wanted to write weird alien sex and the rest is incidental. I didn't finish it so maybe the plot picks up. I mean I like weird alien sex, like a lot, I think it's cool and fun, I just want a really juicy plot and I want the romance to make me FEEL things. I really, really want to read more romance novels set in sci-fi/fantasy settings, or like, novels that happen to have a really strong romantic subplot (and are gay). Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series was really good for this imo, the romance builds up over the first few novels and you can see like, hints towards it but when you realize it's actually happening it's so satisfying. C.M. Waggoner's books, Unnatural Magic and The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry also each have a lovely romantic subplot. The romance in Unnatural Magic is probably one of my favorites ever written, I love it so much. a friendly penguin posted:I just finished She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan and while it's engrossing and fascinating, it's 97% historical fiction and 3% mentions of ghosts and a physical manifestation of heaven's mandate. I'm mystified sometimes how the publishing industry and book stores classify these things. Because this is considered fantasy but Susanna Clarke is shelved in fiction. Both historical fiction with elements of magic. And there's way more magic in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It's possible that it has more to do with the structure in this case, with SWBtS following a predictable three act structure with easily mapped points along the hero's journey. But I feel as if this book may be missing a good chunk of audience who avoid genre, thinking it's not for them. Another candidate for a good fantasy novel with a romantic subplot The fisting scene was unexpected, but appreciated. I'm very excited to read the eventual sequel to this one, iirc it kind of ends on a cliffhanger? I really need to reread.
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Jul 9, 2022 18:03
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Danhenge posted:I hope Ann is going ok. Nothing new from her since early 2019, hasn't blogged since her post about two years ago when she talked about removing Raven Tower from the Hugo noms. This is not a request for secret author info, just kind of thinking out loud. She posts on tumblr occasionally and recently implied that she was writing a new Radch novel. The Presger are involved. Also she posted a link to her Minecraft server if you're into that I guess.
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Aug 29, 2022 14:57
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I've been reading the Red Rising series and I don't think I've ever read a series where I don't like any of the main characters. It's only now that I'm on the 3rd one that I'm getting some people I like, but I'm mostly rooting for all these people to be ground into the dirt repeatedly. Like I don't even like Darrow that much pre-3. I've never continued a book out of spite before.a friendly penguin posted:I just finished Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire and I liked it. It was concise and expansive at the same time. I liked the premise and the characters. But it did feel as if it was wrapped up a little too quickly and neatly rather than exploring a few more of the implications from the fallout of what happened. I like the Wayward Children series a lot, they're a pretty easy read and get better as they go on. I really enjoyed Across the Green Grass Fields. Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant has...what I can only really describe as a super YA style. I think it really works for Wayward Children & they're pretty quick and enjoyable reads, but quick plot wrap ups are pretty par for the course. I gotta say, though, I bounced off her most recent one kind of hard for Personal Reasons but I'll probably go back and fully read it eventually.
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Sep 5, 2022 05:35
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pradmer posted:Provenance by Ann Leckie - $1.99 Actually rereading this right now, fun coincidence! Ann Leckie has also announced a fifth book in the Imperial Radch series, Translation State and I am so loving pumped. I finished a reread of the original trilogy recently and I think it's really cemented myself as my favorite scifi space opera-type series. I think it's pretty hit or miss in the thread, but if you like a lot of space station politics and self growth it's really good.
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Oct 28, 2022 19:38
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FPyat posted:Anyone read anything by Ruthanna Emrys? I’m looking at her recent A Half-Built Garden. I really enjoyed parts of it, but just kind of trailed off at the end and still haven't finished it. I love stories with near-future societies dealing with climate change poo poo and I also love alien culture stuff and it did hit those interests for me. I thought the corporate culture and gender stuff was cool and interesting to think about. The characters were just kind of fine, I only got really interested in Adrien and we don't spend enough time with them to keep me super invested. I think that's why I didn't finish and moved on to other books. I think it's worth a read if you like first contact stories.
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Jan 7, 2023 19:09
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err posted:I just finished Lathe of Heaven after reading The Dispossessed and Left Hand of Darkness. I really liked it just like the others. Lavinia is really good.
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Jan 8, 2023 04:33
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Kestral posted:SF/F goons, a friend has asked for recommendations for fantasy or SF books with romances that Don't Suck, and I'm really racking my brain here - any suggestions? I'm struggling with this because I actively avoid books in which romantic relationships have a major role, unless the writing is so compelling that I'm forced to grin and bear the romance in order to get to the rest of it, so even if I've read ones that fit his criteria, they're not coming to mind. I haven't read the thread in a bit but I wanted to reply to this because SF/F with romance is My poo poo and I wanted to contribute a bit that I haven't seen other people rec. I also just realized you said 'healthy' but hey we can't have everything. The Luminous Dead by Caitlyn Starling (not healthy, but checks the other boxes )Unnatural Magic and the sequel, The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner, She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan Priory of the Orange Tree and the prequel A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon Nightrunners series by Lynn Flewelling (this series loving goes some places and I didn't continue after the 4th book but the romance/relationship is very important through the series!) Autonomous by Annalee Newitz (again not healthy but how often do you see human/robot romances) A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys (alien romance!!!) The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley KJ Charles is probably my favorite (gay) romance author, and she likes to do like...historical urban fantasy I guess? Charm of Magpies series is very fleshed out and has a very strong romance throughout. I'm still waiting for a sequel of Spectered Isle as well.
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Mar 13, 2023 21:36
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D-Pad posted:It's completely self contained. No crossover characters (at least so far) and it takes place outside Raadch space but the general political situation is where things ended at the closing of the original trilogy with the AIs demanding recognition under the presger treaty and a conclave called as a result which everybody is freaking out about. I just finished it and LOVED it. There are some characters from the earlier books that show up in passing or are mentioned, but they aren't major and it's not important if you recognize them or not. The book does a really good job at explaining the entire galaxy situation and also moving past that to actually tell the story that's currently happening. I really loved the Presger Translators in this book, they're so loving cool and weird and gross. silvergoose posted:Anyone read Saint Death's Daughter? Dang this is a weird rear end book, but I think I like it. Gives me kind of Charmed Life vibes but on an altogether more unhinged scale. I read it awhile back and I liked a lot of it, I think it had a really cool world and I definitely want to read any sequels. I feel like there was a real issue with the tone in the later chapters, it felt weird to be reading a kind of goofy climatic battle where the Big Bad is flying around by standing on birds, while also knowing an 8 year old is being tortured horribly off screen.
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Jun 12, 2023 17:56
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Danhenge posted:I liked it pretty well, enough that I'd read more by the same author, but not enough that it'll be on my list of favorites for the year. I think the ending kind of dragged a little. That said, I suspect other posters might enjoy it more than I did! It does a pretty nice job of painting a picture that implies a weirder and more complex world than we see. For instance (minor spoiler, not super plot relevant)it seems like the story takes place on a colony world where there used to be some sort of space station orbiting the planet that a lot of people lived on. It's not totally relevant to the plot, but there are oblique hints a few times. I'm about 500 pages in (its 900+ on my reading app) and man I think I am going to have to give up and try again later. I think I read through the earlier chapters too fast because I was like "Ok and then what?? and then what????" constantly, the world is super super intriguing and the main character is an endearing poo poo who only kind of knows what's going on and is pissed his ex is allowed to talk to his new boyfriend. But yeah, I think I read it too fast so now I have no idea what the gently caress is going on. Very good book.
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Jul 11, 2023 03:32
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The most dogshit part of the whole Red Rising series is that it's completely toothless. They never topple the super fascist space empire that keeps all the red caste in underground hell mining slavery, they just get replaced with the nice fascists! There's a whole caste that are sex slaves but that never really gets addressed, it's just kind of 'hm that's sad' and then the narrative quickly moves on. There's a character that gets some clout because she was a very high ranking sex slave at one point. Oh also Darrow goes "I have a plan" out of nowhere at least once, usually twice a book, and then the perspective immediately shifts and we don't actually find out how Darrow got the idea for the plan or how he organized it, just suddenly later on in the book he is flawlessly executing his genius plan.
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Jul 19, 2023 03:04
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Kestral posted:Seconding Ash, yeah, that book is fantastic. It does require a tolerance for Very Bad Things happening to the protagonist, but if you can manage that and have any interest in a faithfully medieval world gone extremely weird, it’s a must-read. I just want to straight out say it's rape. The book has a lot of rape and various other sexual assault things. The protagonist is forcibly married at one point and as some one else said it seems like nothing good is ever allowed to happen to her. I'm not saying that it's not worth a read, because the framing story/correspondence stuff is really intriguing and it's very well written all over, but it would have been nice if I had someone spell that out to me before I picked the book up. I still haven't finished it because goddamn let my girl get a win this is so depressing 
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Dec 26, 2023 21:30
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tiniestacorn posted:Book rules. It's narrated by a rock. Even though I was a huge fan of Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series, I put off reading The Raven Tower for so long just because I knew it wasn't a sci-fi space fantasy like I already liked. Then someone told me the whole book was from the perspective of a rock and I read it immediately. It's incredibly good. Also if you like The Raven Tower, you might like the short stories set in this universe: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/nalendar/ http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/marsh-gods/ http://transcriptase.org/fiction/leckie-ann-the-god-of-au/ https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-unknown-god/ http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/beloved-of-the-sun-by-ann-leckie/
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Dec 31, 2023 04:45
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I also want to post some of my favorites from 2023 since I think I have some I haven’t seen mentioned much in the thread. I read a LOT this year but these were standouts: Leech by Hiron Ennes - A far-future post-apocalypse/societal/technology collapse featuring a protagonist who is made of body horror. Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon - Grandma decides not to evacuate her failed space colony with everyone else. Left alone on an alien world, she makes first contact. Ninth House and Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo - The elites at Yale are literally doing magic in their secret societies, to everyone’s detriment. The Marigold by Andrew F. Sullivan - The creeping plague of gentrification destroys Chicago. Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh - Your hyper-fash military government is personally lying to you, specifically you. Also you’re going to have your gay awakening while reality is flipping inside out, inconvenient! The Terraformers by Annalee Newtiz - What’s a person? Can you solve all public transit problems by making trains sentient? Signs point to yes. Actual plot: after spending centuries terraforming a world, who does that planet belong to? Shareholders and consumers, or the people who built(who were created to build) it? Dual Memory by Sue Burke - If you wrote a pre-robot war Matrix book it might be kind of like this? I like the way Sue Burke writes nonhuman intelligences a lot. Brainwyrms by Alison Rumfit - Disgusting, erotic, chilling, horrible. A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon - Prequel set centuries before the previous work in the series (Priory of the Orange Tree), big sweeping world-crossing fantasy with multiple character viewpoints, if you liked Priory you’ll like this. Like it’s got dragon riding court intrigue and stuff, its fantasy, idk what more I can say.
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Jan 3, 2024 22:53
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Remulak posted:Toronto? Yeah, it's Toronto. Dunno why I said Chicago.
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Jan 4, 2024 02:44
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Stuporstar posted:There’s pretty central gay romance in the Archive Undying, Everina Maxwell’s scifi series, Witchmark (the first book—the next two switch pov but the first book’s characters still have a role)… So if I pick up a book and there's romance in it, I'm only going to read it if it's gay in some way. And lesbian/female queer sexuality is more palatable to publishers, my guess is because publishers think straight males will not touch their book if the dicks do. But I have read some good books with non-hetero male protagonists so here's my list. I'm also not good at sticking to genres so some of this might be sci-fi adjacent. Emily Tesh - Silver in the Wood and Drowned Country Ryan La Sala - Beholder (I'm reading this right now and it's so good) Freya Markse - A Marvelous Light & A Power Unbound K.J Charles - Spectered Isle (Charles writes primarily historical gay romance and some of her books feature supernatural elements, thisismy favorite) Lynn Flewelling - Nightrunner series Natasha Pulley - The Kingdoms (Also The Watchmaker of Filigree Street series but I think those are just ok and that The Kingdoms is her best work, and and she has some gay space story coming out this year) Everina Maxwell - Winter's Orbit & Ocean's Echo Others I haven't read yet but have seen scrolling through libby/have in my to-read list: Seth Haddon - Reborn & Reforged Lee Mandelo - Summer Sons Allie Therin - Proper Scoundrels Alexandra Rowland - A Taste of Gold and Iron Foz Meadows - A Strange and Stubborn Endurance Ok good luck!! There's others that I've seen recommended like C.L Polk and Rainbow Rowell but I haven't really enjoyed what I've read of their stuff. big dyke energy fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Jan 6, 2024 |
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Jan 6, 2024 19:32
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Chairman Capone posted:For gay male SFF, Mark Gatiss (yes, of Sherlock and other TV fame) has a trilogy of spy novels (Vesuvius Club, Devil in Amber, Black Butterfly) that are softly steampunk/magical/spy-fi. The main character is a bisexual Edwardian male spy who has sex with both men and women. This is absolutely my poo poo so thank you for the rec!!
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Jan 6, 2024 23:43
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